Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (who serves on the Penn State board of trustees) said the penalties – a $60 million fine, a four-year ban on bowl games, football scholarship reductions, and the stripping of 14 seasons of football victories under late head coach Joe Paterno – were unfair to the university, its students, and Pennsylvania citizens because the Sandusky criminal matter already is being handled in courts.

Everybody caught that, right? The molestation and rape case is already being handled in the criminal courts and it is unfair (or illegal depending on who is speaking) to punish the university for that crime. OK, well Penn State is not being punished for Sandusky’s crimes. They’re being punished for covering up decades of molestation and rape that happened on their campus, at their facilities, on trips with their football team, by one of their coaches. What’s more, they agreed to this punishment and admitted their guilt as a part of that agreement. As a member of the board of trustees, Corbett was part of that agreement and admission.

Bu PA’s governor is going ahead with the suit. Why? He has made it clear this is really about the money. His list of reasons for bringing this suit is pretty much a price tag.

Penn State Football Benefits:

Brings in an estimated 15 percent of visitors to Penn State football games
from outside the state;

Generated $161.5 million to business volume impact in 2009, with $90
million benefitting (sic) Centre County alone;

Spent $16 million in Pennsylvania on goods and services with contractors
and vendors in 2009 – essentially pumping money back into the state’s
economy;

Creates about 2,200 jobs – both direct jobs, such as box office and
concession staff, and indirect jobs, such as shopkeepers to restaurant
and hotel staff; and

Generates more than $5 million in tax revenue and supports a number of
community programs run through and in conjunction with football and
student athletics. Source

Groups like, The Second Mile Foundation, wherein Jerry Sandusky groomed and isolated little boys for his serial rape and molestation? Is that the kind of groups that are of concern to the governor?

He literally outlined his reasons for valuing the football program over and above the lives and safety of rape victims and all of them are money.

From the time they are young, we encourage athletes to push themselves harder and harder. We look at athletes in sports movies or television shows who bleed to win and call those people heroes. What’s more, we call the coaches and the parents who train them to do those things and allow them to be trained to do those things, role models.

But that’s not true. Athletes aren’t heroes. Athletes are modern gladiators and their parents and coaches are modern day lanista who profit from the bodies of their property. And nothing can be allowed to stand in the way of that profit; go bigger, push harder, shake off the pain.

Gladiators were gods in their time and were allowed liberties no other slaves would have been granted; women and boys were brought to them when their masters were pleased with the results of that day’s games. They had the best places to live, the best food, the first and best of everything among their social peers. And when the gladiator was no longer profitable they were tossed aside like garbage.

Sounds a lot like your standard collegiate or professional sports league, doesn’t it?

“The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized.”

I’d like to disagreed with Mr. Freeh on one small point. Penn State didn’t fail to protect children. They refused to do so. This coverup was not a mistake. It’s not like they dropped the ball. They put the ball down and sprinted the hell away from it.

Once the scandal came to light rational people were justifiably outraged. Sadly, certain people were outraged that Penn State, you know the school that eventually admitted complicity in protecting a child molester, was being punished for their actions of for fifteen goddamn years.

Like the Stubenville rape case, certain people act first and exclusively to protect the team or the reputation of the school, not the victims. You have my permission to point out that those people are horrible and their priorities are grossly skewed at length and volume.

“The University is committed to full compliance with the Consent Decree, the Athletics Integrity Agreement and, as appropriate, the implementation of the Freeh report recommendations. We look forward to continuing to work with Sen. George Mitchell as the athletic integrity monitor for complete fulfillment of the Athletics Integrity Agreement. We recognize the important role that intercollegiate athletics provides for our student athletes and the wider University community. Penn State continues to move forward with an unwavering commitment to excellence and integrity in all aspects of our University and continues to be a world-class educational institution of which our students, faculty, staff and alumni can be justifiably proud.”

Seriously people, I don’t care what bizarre thought contortion Corbett and the people who are all whining “Poor pitiful Penn State,” had to go through to come up with this suit or their justifications. The only thing we need to keep in mind is the fact that they have made it clear that they care more about a game than the do about the safety and bodily integrity of children.